Institut für Sprachwissenschaft

To list Dressler’s linguistic interests would almost mean charting the whole field of Linguistics. Perhaps the shortest characterization of his work, documented in almost four hundred publications, is to say that he does everything.

From modest beginnings, writing in German on specific problems of Indo-European, Dressler branched out into General Linguistics, then Applied Linguistics. And into English, French, Italian, Polish, and a dazzling number of other languages. His pioneering work in phonological, morphological and discourse theory have made him a recognized world leader in these fields. He has always defended the view that so-called "external evidence", from language change, acquisition, loss, etc., is vital to any linguistic theory.

Dressler is an integrator, both of linguistic knowledge and of linguists. He is an avid proponent of circumspection in every field and in every individual analysis in Linguistics. And he brings linguists together at meetings large and small, and in a wealth of anthologies that he has (co-) edited.

But perhaps his most significant contribution to Linguistics has been in encouraging and inspiring others. As a Head of Department he sets a glowing example of industriousness and effectiveness. As a leader of international projects, like his present one on "Pre- and Protomorphology" he sets the highest standards of analysis and theoretical relevance.

This Festschrift volume is a tribute to Dressler’s work so far. It can truly be said to encompass the widest possible range of authors and linguistic topics that is possible within a single volume.

Short CV

Wolfgang U. Dressler (known to family, friends and colleagues as ‘Ulli’) was born on 22nd December 1939 in Vienna. He studied Linguistics and Classical Philology in Vienna, Rome and Paris, taking his M.A., Ph.D. and Habilitation at the University of Vienna.

In 1964 he joined the Department of Linguistics of the University of Vienna. After two years at UCLA and Ohio State University, he became Full Professor of General and Applied Linguistics at Vienna in 1971. Since 1978 he has been Head of the Linguistics Department. Visiting professorships have taken him all over North America and Europe, and he has delivered invited lectures and received prizes all over the world.

Ordering information

To order the festschrift, please send an email to grosenb@tin.it.